Posts Tagged ‘Courgettes’

We loved this easy veggie lasagne that celebrates courgettes – one of our favourite summer vegetables. An excellent family dish for mid-week.

Wine Suggestion: We had a Bergerac blanc from Le Tap at hand from our recent holidays. It was a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and a touch of Muscadelle and had the right kind of freshness and body.

Spinach & Courgette Lasagne – serves 6

400g spinach

1 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

250g mascarpone

1 tsp ground nutmeg

100g Parmesan, grated

9 lasagne sheets

100ml double cream

3 large courgettes, sliced lengthways

Put the spinach into a colander and pour over boiling water to wilt it. Leave until cool enough to touch, then squeeze out the excess liquid with your hands.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, add the garlic and soften for a minute. Add the nutmeg and cook for another minute before adding the mascarpone, spinach, half the cream and half the Parmesan. Mix together and season well, then set aside.

Heat the oven to 180C/160 fan/gas 4.

Spread a third of the filling over the base of a 20 x 30 cm baking dish, cover with 3 lasagne sheets, then add a layer of courgettes. Repeat two more times. Pour the remaining cream over and sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the pasta is cooked. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.

A weekend lunch treat for the three of us as we had courgettes lying around begging to be used.

Wine Suggestion: a crunchy white was demanded here and an old favourite was opened to match; the Chateau du Hureau Saumur Blanc “Argile”. A vibrant Chenin Blanc with texture, vibrant, crunchy, apply fruit plus a real sense of place.

Courgette & lemon risotto – serves 2

50g butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 large garlic clove, crushed

180g risotto rice

1 litre of hot vegetable stock

zest and juice 1 lemon

2 lemon thyme sprigs

250g courgette, diced

50g parmesan, grated

2 tbsp crème fraîche

Melt the butter in a deep frying pan and gently fry the onion until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for another minute. Pour in the rice and stir for a couple of minutes until it glistens.

Add a ladle of the stock to the rice, along with the lemon juice and thyme. Bubble over a medium heat, stirring constantly. When almost all the liquid has been absorbed, add another ladle and continue to stir. Tip in the courgette and keep adding the stock, stirring every now and then until the rice is just tender and creamy.

Season to taste and stir in the lemon zest, Parmesan and crème fraîche.

It’s the season where vegetables seem to come in waves of excess. Here’s a nice weekday lasagne for any of you that are still harvesting courgettes. Our friend Nicola also dropped by with some home-grown salad ingredients including these pretty nasturtiums.

Wine Suggestion: We think fresh, crisp whites work with courgettes really well and when combined with pasta and cheese naturally lean towards young Semillon, Chenin Blanc or Chablis. To mix it up a bit, however, we tried the Villa Sparina Gavi di Gavi from Piedmont in Italy, another good option.

Courgette Lasagne – serves 6

8 plum tomatoes, halved

2 garlic cloves, lightly bashed

1 tbsp olive oil

1 sprig of rosemary

½ tbsp golden caster sugar

2 leeks, sliced into rings

20g unsalted butter

100g baby spinach

500g courgettes, grated

10 lasagne sheets

250g tub of ricotta

125g mozzarella, torn

50g Parmesan, grated

Heat the oven to 200C/180 fan/gas 6.

Put the halved tomatoes onto a baking tray with the garlic, oil, rosemary and season well. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until soft, then discard the rosemary and remove the skin from the garlic. Put the tomatoes and garlic in a blender and blitz a few times to make a chunky sauce.

Meanwhile, put the leeks in a pan over a low heat, add the butter, season and cook for about 10 minutes or until soft. Add the spinach and grated courgettes, and continue to cook for another couple of minutes to wilt and soften. Set aside.

Layer the ingredients in a large ovenproof dish starting with a layer of tomato sauce, then some pasta, followed by ricotta and vegetables. Repeat until all the ingredients are used, finishing with a vegetable layer. Scatter over the mozzarella and Parmesan, then bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.

(Original recipe by John Torode in BBC Good Food Magazine, August 2016.)

Wine Suggestion: the vibrancy of flavours demanded an equally vivacious wine; we chose the Kilikanoon Morts’ Block Riesling from the Clare Valley in Australia. It was dry and driven by a limey, textured presence that sang alongside this dish.

Tip the couscous into a bowl and pour over the vegetable stock. Cover with some cling film and leave for 5 minutes.

Mix the 125ml olive oil, the lime juice, garlic, mint & sugar together in a bowl to make a dressing.

Fluff the couscous with a fork, stir in the chickpeas, then pour over half of the dressing. Mix well together and pile onto a serving plate.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan and fry the courgette slices for 2-3 minutes or until well browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on some kitchen paper. Put the tomatoes into the pan, cut side down, for a couple of minutes until tinged brown on the cut side. Scatter the courgettes over the couscous, followed by the tomatoes.

Heat a little more oil, then add the halloumi strips and fry for a couple of minutes or until brown on all sides. Pile the halloumi on top of the salad and pour over the remaining dressing.

We have used some fancy yellow courgettes for this dish but the usual green variety will be just as good. An excellent side dish for barbecues… of which we are having many at the moment. If you don’t want to light the barbecue you can also griddle the courgettes with good results.

Griddled courgettes with Parmesan & basil – serves 4 as a side dish

5 medium courgettes

2 tbsp salt flakes

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

½ lemon

25g pine nuts

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

25g Parmesan, finely grated

a handful of basil leaves, roughly torn

a few mint leaves, roughly torn

Preheat the barbecue (or griddle pan). Cut the ends of the courgettes and cut a long thin slice off two opposite sides and discard. Cut each courgette into 4 long strips. Mix the courgettes with the salt and place in a colander to drain with some plates on top. Let them drip over the sink or a bowl or an hour or so.

Shake off any excess salt from the slices, then rub each side with a little olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and season with freshly ground black pepper.

Cook the courgettes on the barbecue/griddle for about 5 minutes per side or until softened and well charred. Transfer to a serving dish and squeeze over a little more lemon juice.

Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan for a couple of minutes or until golden.

Scatter the pine nuts, parmesan, basil & mint over the courgettes. Trickle over the rest of the olive oil and serve warm.

(Original recipe from by Valentine Warner in BBC Olive Magazine, July 2009.)

Make the soured cream sauce by putting all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Stir well and chill until needed.

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC Fan/Gas Mark 7.

Mix all of the ingredients for the meatballs, except the sunflower oil, together in a large bowl. Shape into small burgers – they should weigh about 45g each and you should aim for around 18 of them.

Pour enough of the sunflower oil into a frying pan to get a thin layer on the bottom, about 2mm thick. Heat well and sear the meatballs in batches over a medium heat on all sides. Cook for about 4 minutes, adding more oil as needed, until golden brown.

Carefully transfer the meatballs onto an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper and cook in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until just cooked through. Serve warm or at room temperature, with the sauce spooned over.

We are getting close to the last courgettes for the season and what a way to celebrate this humble vegetable … delicious!

Wine Suggestion: We drank an Aligote from Jean Fournier in Burgundy. Aligote is completely underrated and we don’t see it often, but this example shows why we should: fresh, rich and full of fruit but with a core of crisp acidity and earthiness that makes it sing alongside the eggy cream, add layers to the pancetta and parmesan and make the courgettes even more silky.

Halve and quarter the courgettes lengthways. Discard any fluffy bits from the middle and slice at an angle into similar sized shapes to the penne. If you have small courgettes you can just slice them finely.

Cook the penne according to the pack instructions.

While the pasta is cooking, put the egg yolks into a bowl and add the cream and half the Parmesan. Mix with a fork. Season lightly and set aside.

Heat a very large frying pan, add a splash of olive oil and fry the pancetta/bacon until dark brown & crispy. Add the courgette slices and a very generous grind of black pepper. Add the thyme leaves, and stir to make sure the courgettes are well coated with the bacony oil, then fry until turning lightly golden and starting to soften.

Drain the pasta and reserve the cooking water. Immediately toss the pasta into the courgette pan, then take off the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved pasta water and your creamy sauce. Stir together quickly but don’t put back on the heat.

Add the rest of the Parmesan, and a bit more cooking water if needed, to give you a silky sauce. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.